From:	MERC::"uunet!VM1.NODAK.EDU!OWNER-ANU-NEWS" 26-FEB-1993 20:28:38.80
To:	Multiple recipients of list ANU-NEWS <ANU-NEWS@VM1.NoDak.EDU>
CC:	
Subj:	ANU 6.1 little shop of horrors

Warning to VMS V5.3 users rebuilding ANU NEWS 6.1 from sources... and request
for other's experience[s].

I just upgraded to DECUS UUCP 2.0 and ANU NEWS 6.1, *but* I rebuilt all from
source & linked under VMS V5.3... After nearly 28 hours offline, I've finally
gotten NEWS sane again... I've got a litany of problems as long as my arm, but
I'll only gripe about the ones I think are legitimate...

First, I'd like to HIGHLY commend Mr. Hanrahan and his associates on a job
very well done with DECUS UUCP V2.0 - my upgrade (including a source rebuild)
was painless.  I wish the other half had been as easy.

The major problems were as follows [I would like responses as to whether or
not these are known problems, or if I simply screwed it up or something...]

  1) JPI$_RIGHTSLIST item code under V5.3 works differently than
     coded in NEWSSITE.C, so the new rights checking code had to be disabled
     Maybe I get the credit for this one since the doc _did_ say something
     about NEWS being set up for 5.4 up.  It was still difficult to track
     down, and NEWS _still_ should not have exited with a success code under
     these conditions [no privilege - for news manager operations].

  2) Item 1 caused NEWS to fail in batch mode in such a way that the
     NEWS_RNEWS.COM procedure deleted the batch thinking that NEWS had
     successfully added the batch - I lost several batches this way.

  3) NEWS seems to think it oughtta go into interactive mode if it can
     get to a NEWSRC. file that defines some sort of 'default class'.
     Unfortunately this is wrong when SYS$INPUT is a batch file... when
     NEWS tries to display a directory of newsgroups, it promptly craters
     when it asks SMG for a keystroke & [deservedly] gets an SMG$_EOF.
     This also produces an incorrect successful exit.  I disabled the call
     from main() to reg_context() if SYS$INPUT is not a terminal.

  4) I was having problems for a while with getting an 'improperly handled
     condition' stackdump (SS$_ACCVIO) on image exit, but this disappeared
     after a complete rebuild [scaaary!].

Other minor problems:

  1) It appears that two calls: do_dir(force_dir,[x]) in reg_context()
     in NEWSRC.C have their parameters reversed.

  2) It appears that the definition (or usage) of struct mai_itmlst null_list
     is incorrect... in NEWSSITE.C:call_mail_profile(), the call to
     mail$user_begin() is crapping with SS$_ACCVIO, because the
     declaration/usage is passing the whole structure rather than simply the
     address of the structure.

These are just the problems I found trying to get the thing up at all...
have I: 1) screwed up entirely, 2) just gotten unlucky, or 3) just scratched
the surface?

I must say now that ANU 6.1 is up, it _does_ seem rather nice... at least a
couple of the commands that were broken in earlier versions are fixed :).

Thanks.
--
David G. North, CCP
d_north@ondec.lonestar.org {...!texsun!montagar!ondec!d_north}
onDEC systems                                 "Everyone's crazy but you & me...
P.O.Box 795848, Dallas TX  75379-5848          and come to think about it, I'm
(214)985-1316 ... (214)902-3957                not so sure about you either!"